Modi upsets Gupta, in lead

Kunal Modi ELO 1722 outwitted the sole leader Atit Gupta ELO 1726 in the under-17 boys group of Mumbai Youth Interschool Chess Championship...

Kunal Modi ELO 1722 outwitted the sole leader Atit Gupta ELO 1726 in the under-17 boys group of Mumbai Youth Interschool Chess Championship, organised by the Venus Chess Academy, hosted by the Goregaon Sports Club and conducted by the Bombay Chess Association.

In the sixth round and penultimate round, seventh seed Kunal Modi of Thakur Vidya Mandir Kandivali was playing with white pieces against fifth seed Atit Gupta of St. Lawrence School, Borivali. Using the Yugoslav attack against Atit8217;s dragon in Sicilian defence, Kunal castled in the queen8217;s wing while Atit castled in the king8217;s wing. Kunal opened h and g files by exchanging pawns in front of black king and harassed the black king. In a hopeless position, Atit accepted his defeat in 35 moves. Kunal, Atit and third seed Amit Sukhpal ELO 1883 jointly lead the field with 5 points each after the sixth round.

Amit of KVIIT Powai, playing with black pieces won on time with more or less equal position against Suraj BorateELO 1828 of Fr. Agnel, Vashi. Top seed Shantanu BhambureELO 1945 drew with Karefegar Dalal and is in joint second spot with 4.5 points along with Bhaumik Doshi of Somaiya College, Vidyavihar who defeated Haresh Chodnekar.

In the U-17 girls group after sixth round, top seed Shilpi Jain of N M College defeated Priyanka Bahule and emerged sole leader with 5.5 points, while third seed Filisha Shah of AVM Juhu is alone in the second spot with 5 points after beating Anmol Soni. Second seed Bhakti JuikarELO 1768 of VN Sule Dadar is trailing behind on third spot with 4.5 points. She beat Priya Lotlikar of St. Ann8217;s High School Borivali.

At the end of the fifth round in the U-11 boys group, Tejas Patkar of Fr. Angel, Vashi and Shreyas Kulakarni of Gokuldham, Goregaon are jointly leading the group with 5 points each. Both of them have won all five games in a row.

Tejas ELO 1661 and Shreyas ELO 1634 both with white pieces defeated Viraj ThamhankarELO 1828 and Samyak Baid ELO 1766 respectively. Top seed Sairaj Chittal of Balmohan Vidya Mandir was held to a draw by Vaibhav Bhat . Sairaj ELO 1860, Vaibhav, and second seed Anand Prabhu are on jointly second spot with 4.5 points each. Anand Prabhu with black pieces defeated Arnav Desai of Greenlawns, Worli.

In the under-11 girls group at the end of fifth round, Vrushali Deodhar of Parle Tilak Vidyalaya is leading the field with 5 points. Vrushali who outwitted Devika Kelkar in the 5th round has won all the five games in a row.

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Top seed Parnali Dharia ELO 1634 of Madhavrao Bhagwat High School Vile Parle and third seed Janhavi Soneji ELO 1476 of Cannossa Convent Andheri are jointly on the second spot. With 4 points each. Parnali was held to draw by second seed Dhanashree Pandit ELO 1562 of NES, Bhandup, while Janhavi with black pieces defeated Shubhada Sawant of KES School, Santacruz. The U-7 and U-13 groups are starting from November 4.